Obviously the biggest White Sox story was the hiring of Robin Ventura as manager. I absolutely love the move. It gives us a young guy who can better relate to this young crop of talent we're going to go with in the near future. Robin spent half of the 2011 season working as special assistant to the director of player development Buddy Bell. He spent much of that time researching the entire White Sox minor league system, and learning about all the different players we have in our system.
Robin is an organization guy. He's the second manager in a row(not counting Don Cooper), who is a former White Sox player. He was already working in player development and he doesn't have experience so he doesn't command a high dollar value. He is a quieter guy, so he probably won't butt heads with KW on too many issues with the club. I don't think that he won't have that fire to rally the troops when they need it though, because I believe he will be very passionate.
I don't quite understand why people disliked this move. Certainly he had no managerial experience, but who cares? You have to get it somewhere. People are crying that we did not hire Sandy Alomar Jr or Dave Martinez, but neither of them had experience as a manager either. KW said Robin was the guy almost from the get-go. I'm behind him 100%.
People are also upset about the choices to fill the other vacated coaching positions. I don't have a problem with the hire of Mark Parent. He has managed three different levels of the minors for the Phillies organization since 2005, and had success. I like the hiring of Joe McEwing as third base coach. It might seem like a minor coaching position, but it can be crucially important in big moments. Joe was very popular during his playing career, especially in St. Louis. You can read about it all here on his Wikipedia page. I am sure whoever is named hitting coach will also be a fine choice. Hey, it can't get any worse than Greg Walker can it?
Another story that seems to have built steam in the sports world recently are stories that both White Sox and Red Sox players are basically partying in the clubhouse during games. The Red Sox stories seem like stories of various starting pitchers just not caring what goes on in active games; eating chicken, playing video games and drinking are the stories coming out of Boston. However, with the Chi-Sox story, it seems to actually be about caring.
AJ Pierzynski said in an interview that various Sox players were drinking during games. He called them "rally beers". He also said that nobody was drinking to get drunk and that the beer was used as a pick-me-up for really long games or when players were getting tired. He said in more than a few instances, it worked for him at least. People are basically crucifying this story in the media and I can't figure out why. I say it's a lot better than stupid "rally hats", the "rally monkey" or those stupid thunder sticks. (Although I do not drink, I don't do the hat thing either)
To make this a big deal is to say that you really believed baseball players were absolutely flawless people. That's ignorant. Throughout the history of baseball, players have drank. The most famous drunks are probably Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. Babe Ruth was said to come to the park drunk, to play drunk and to get wasted after games or even between games of a double header. Think about that in a historical context: Babe Ruth was getting wasted in 1925. What was going on in 1925? Prohibition. So the Babe was breaking the law. Nobody is breaking laws today by drinking a beer if they are over the age of 21. Hey if the idiot fans can drink in the stands, why not the idiot players?
The Chi-Sox story is nothing like the Red Sox story. They are being compared to each other, but the Red Sox players clearly just didn't care about their team when they weren't pitching, and were showing a complete lack of respect for their organization and their fans by doing what they were doing. As AJ stated, the Sox players were trying to get a pick-me-up for long games. What's wrong with that? It's not like they were popping pills like 80% of the league were doing in the 1960's-1990's.
Doc Ellis threw a no hitter on LSD. I read an interview with Darryl Strawberry where he said he doesn't remember playing a game in the 80's without speed pills. He also went on to say that he remembers picking a girl out of the stands and inviting her into the clubhouse for sex, between innings of a game. So it's not like having a sip of beer is the worst thing that has ever taken place in a baseball clubhouse. This story just needs to go away; it's really grasping at straws to say it is such an awful thing that occurred, but that's what the media does best. They stir up controversy where there is none, and then beat you over the head with it.
Finally, the Astros are definitely moving to the AL. This puts us in the awkward position of having 15 teams in each league. This means that there are only two scenarios for the regular season schedule now: either two teams will continuously be playing an interleague series all year long, or we will have two teams always off each day. I don't like this move at all. I like the even numbers. Adding teams to MLB is out of the question, subtracting or "contracting" teams will also probably never pass.
This leaves us with a really weird and messed up way of doing things going forward. Thanks a lot Disastros for putting us here. Will this be more fair, 15 team leagues and six five-team divisions? Sure. This will certainly drive the interleague detractors crazy. With this move, this means Interleague will not be eliminated, ever. Only if there is a change at some point that fixes this problem, which doesn't really seem possible without more realignment of some kind.
We'll have to see what happens here but I am just not feeling it. Maybe it will grow on me. I don't hate the Astros, and it will be fine to have them in the American League. I guess since I don't really get a say, I should just sit back and see how it goes. It will be interesting to see how they go about scheduling. One problem I see right now is the end of the season. Lets say the Cardinals lead the Brewers by one game in the NL Central. The Cardinals last series of the year is against the Reds. The Brewers last series of the year is against the Yankees. How would that be fair; that an AL team can knock a NL team out of the postseason (or vice-versa) in the last series of the year? Is this issue going to be addressed?
Another story that seems to have built steam in the sports world recently are stories that both White Sox and Red Sox players are basically partying in the clubhouse during games. The Red Sox stories seem like stories of various starting pitchers just not caring what goes on in active games; eating chicken, playing video games and drinking are the stories coming out of Boston. However, with the Chi-Sox story, it seems to actually be about caring.
Hey, I'm just trying to rally the troops here...
AJ Pierzynski said in an interview that various Sox players were drinking during games. He called them "rally beers". He also said that nobody was drinking to get drunk and that the beer was used as a pick-me-up for really long games or when players were getting tired. He said in more than a few instances, it worked for him at least. People are basically crucifying this story in the media and I can't figure out why. I say it's a lot better than stupid "rally hats", the "rally monkey" or those stupid thunder sticks. (Although I do not drink, I don't do the hat thing either)
To make this a big deal is to say that you really believed baseball players were absolutely flawless people. That's ignorant. Throughout the history of baseball, players have drank. The most famous drunks are probably Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle. Babe Ruth was said to come to the park drunk, to play drunk and to get wasted after games or even between games of a double header. Think about that in a historical context: Babe Ruth was getting wasted in 1925. What was going on in 1925? Prohibition. So the Babe was breaking the law. Nobody is breaking laws today by drinking a beer if they are over the age of 21. Hey if the idiot fans can drink in the stands, why not the idiot players?
The Chi-Sox story is nothing like the Red Sox story. They are being compared to each other, but the Red Sox players clearly just didn't care about their team when they weren't pitching, and were showing a complete lack of respect for their organization and their fans by doing what they were doing. As AJ stated, the Sox players were trying to get a pick-me-up for long games. What's wrong with that? It's not like they were popping pills like 80% of the league were doing in the 1960's-1990's.
"I threw a no hitter on LSD sucka!"
Doc Ellis threw a no hitter on LSD. I read an interview with Darryl Strawberry where he said he doesn't remember playing a game in the 80's without speed pills. He also went on to say that he remembers picking a girl out of the stands and inviting her into the clubhouse for sex, between innings of a game. So it's not like having a sip of beer is the worst thing that has ever taken place in a baseball clubhouse. This story just needs to go away; it's really grasping at straws to say it is such an awful thing that occurred, but that's what the media does best. They stir up controversy where there is none, and then beat you over the head with it.
This leaves us with a really weird and messed up way of doing things going forward. Thanks a lot Disastros for putting us here. Will this be more fair, 15 team leagues and six five-team divisions? Sure. This will certainly drive the interleague detractors crazy. With this move, this means Interleague will not be eliminated, ever. Only if there is a change at some point that fixes this problem, which doesn't really seem possible without more realignment of some kind.
We'll have to see what happens here but I am just not feeling it. Maybe it will grow on me. I don't hate the Astros, and it will be fine to have them in the American League. I guess since I don't really get a say, I should just sit back and see how it goes. It will be interesting to see how they go about scheduling. One problem I see right now is the end of the season. Lets say the Cardinals lead the Brewers by one game in the NL Central. The Cardinals last series of the year is against the Reds. The Brewers last series of the year is against the Yankees. How would that be fair; that an AL team can knock a NL team out of the postseason (or vice-versa) in the last series of the year? Is this issue going to be addressed?
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